On August 8th, 2024, Sabrina Carpenter released her 6th studio album, Short N’ Sweet. This marks a big change in Carpenter’s career as her true debut into the title of “main pop star.”
This new album marks her first-ever number-one album debut on the Billboard 200. The results of the weekly chart were delayed, due to the close battle for the number one spot between Sabrina and Travis Scott, where Sabrina narrowly took the top spot.
This album also contains her first-ever number-one hit on the Billboard Hot 100, with the second single, Please Please Please. The first single, Espresso, while only reaching number 2, has been arguably the bigger single.
Peaking with over 11 million Spotify streams daily, with a total of over 1,000,000,000 streams on Spotify. Many have been calling this the song of the summer.
Producers like Jack Antonoff, known for his work with Taylor Swift worked on this album. Julian Bunetta also produced some songs, known for his work with Harry Styles.
Sophomore Gabby Charles had this to say. “I mean the songs are definitely catchy, but oh my god they’re so overplayed.”
The smash singles are about the super stars newfound love with actor Barry Keoghan. They have been sighted together at numerous events, such as Coachella, or the Met Gala.
He then went on to co-star as Sabrina’s love interest in the Please Please Please music video. This sparked a lot of interest in the music video, which is partly what propelled the song into the number one spot.
Short N’ Sweet was a sort of official affirmation that Carpenter’s new persona was here to stay. The singer has found her voice and her talents, leaning into promiscuous lyrics you might not catch on a first listen.
This follows her 5th studio album, “Emails I Can’t Send,” her first album with her brand-new record label. Island Records has allowed Carpenter a new sense of freedom with her music, where she feels like she can express herself.
One of the songs trending on TikTok right now is Bed Chem, known for its especially promiscuous lyrics. “Where art thou? why not uponeth me?” A play on Shakespeare, as well as some raunchy things that aren’t exactly NSFW.
Despite the short track list of only 11 songs, each has something new and sweet to offer. From “pop perfection” like Espresso and Please Please Please, to slower ballads such as Dumb and Poetic, or Lie to Girls, this album manages to cover it all.
Ruthshaelle Eugene said, “This album is by far my favorite of the year. The songs are very versatile, but certified bops for sure.”
The vocals on each song manage to display her range, no matter the tempo or mood set by the lyrics. My personal favorite song is Taste.
Taste explores the concept that your ex keeps you with them after a break-up. “You’ll just have to taste me, when he’s kissing you.” This clever concept perfectly describes the messy love triangle that Sabrina was part of in 2022.
Shawn Mendes, who was known to be in a long-term relationship with Camilla Cabello. Immediately after the break-up is when Sabrina and Shawn were caught together, which led to a lot of public scrutiny, not something new to the Short N’ Sweet singer.
This controversy manifests in “Taste,” and the music video starring the singer, as we all Jenna Ortega. In Ortega’s typical horror vibe, the music video takes a dark campy approach, where Sabrina and Jenna are in a gory death battle, killing each other over a man.
The music video ends when they realize that they are not the issue, rather the man is. They then kiss, really bringing the metaphor of “Taste me, when he’s kissing you,” to life.
Sabrina Carpenter’s “Short N’ Sweet Tour” kicks off September 23rd 2024 in Columbus Ohio. After selling out within hours of tickets dropping, this is one of the most highly anticipated tours of the year.
